Lights are a good source of heat. Here in Texas when we expect a freeze that could kill some tender plants we wrap a cage around that plant using what ever kind of structure that will surround and cover the plant most wrap this with plastic being sure it does not touch the plant. We place lights inside the structure for the heat source creating a small greenhouse. I am finding uses for those empty plastic milk cartons. By cutting the bottoms our and placing them over plants such as tomatoes as they stop producing as soon as it hits 95 which comes too soon in our area. I have also started to cut a hole in the bottoms of those plastic ice cream containers, leaving a flap which can be closed at night if the temps will drop too low for good growth. I am also thinking about maybe using other small white frosted containers for seed starting here in our area with a hole cut on the bottom for venting during warm days to prevent too much moisture build up. Again Thanks for the wonderful posts on gardenweb. Paul

Zinnias and green beans can be direct planted outdoors but they both need it to be warm before you plant them, whether started indoors or out. In your zone, wait till the end of May to start outdoors. These seeds need warm soil. There are websites that have lists of how many weeks before last frost (May 15 in your zone) plants should be started, or if you need to wait till after last frost. They are a big help. Also, the back of the seed packet often contains this info.

I don't know if this will be of any help. I plant my daylily seeds in a mixture of 2 parts of peat moss, 1 of vermiculite and 1 of perlite. I add water and soak it overnight before filling the cups. I buy the big bale of peat moss, so it cuts down on the cost. I punch holes in the bottoms and around the bottom edge of styrofoam cups, and fill them with the mix. (16 oz plastic drink cups will do, too.) I set them in aluminum foil roasting pans, and fill the pans with water. Once the seeds get their second set of leaves, I start adding one scoop of Schultz's Expert Plant Food to a gallon of water, and keep them in that solution until I am ready to transplant them. It is easy to slide out the plants, "soil" and all when ready to transplant. I just recently bought a mini green house, which is actually 4 shelves, with a zippered plastic cover that fits over it. It was only $30. It holds the pans of cups perfectly. You could also get some inexpensive plastic storage bins at Wal-Mart, drill holes in the bottom and set them in the aluminum foil pans. Just a few ideas for you. Don't try and move the pans if they are full of water and cups, as they will bend on you. I remove the cups, throw out the water every few days, put the cups back in and refill with fresh water.

The first seeds I tried were nicotiana sylvestris, which were incredibly easy and gave me dozens of 5-6'tall strongly scented stocks of white flowers in late summer. Many of these have reseeded, so they are a permanent fixture now. I just used a dome covered tray (so I didn't have to water often) on a bright windowsill. If you don't like any hassle, you might try wintersowing, which mainly works for perennials or somewhat hardier annuals. I started with wintersowing lupins and foxgloves and now have drifts of these flowers. Now I mainly grow hard-to-find or expensive plants from seed (species peonies and cyclamen). Cyclamen are simple and because they like it cool, I start them in late fall or early winter under a single light purchased for $20 from Home Depot and strung up from nails in our unfinished basement. I can easily grow 40 or so cyclamen with little effort, which would cost me close to $400 to purchase as plants. Tubers cost less than plants, but the the success rate is low because they don't like to be dried out.